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Painting by Sophia Kalski based on her experiences as a young girl hiding in a secret room as German soldiers search for Jews

Object | Accession Number: 2004.698.3

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1988 about her life as a 9 year girl in the ghetto in Lwow, Poland (L’viv, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - March 1943. It depicts 2 soldiers with flashlights searching near a basement room hidden behind a wall of green bottles that conceals a group of people. In Sophia’s words: "Aktion in Lwow on fifth and sixth of Jan. 1943. I am hiding in a bunker (basement) among strangers without my parents. The bunker is divided into two parts and the dividing wall is made of thick green bottles. The flashlight that the Germans are holding while they are searching for Jews in the bunker brings terrible fright on me and it seems to me that they will discover in a moment and they will take me away to shoot me, and I have no one to trust and to rely on to take me out of this and to give me some reassurances." In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Artwork Title

Lwow Aktion on fifth and sixth of Jan. 1943

Date

approximately 1988
(creation)
1943 January 05-1943 January 06
(depiction)

Oil painting on canvas depicting, on the left, a partial view of a set of brown stairs descending into a small white walled room with a brown floor, window, shelf, barrel, and trunk. Two faceless men in green uniforms stand near the stairs; one is bent at the waist shining a flashlight at a wall made of green bottles. Behind the wall is a cramped, dark space. A small blonde haired girl stands with a group of faceless people. Diffused yellow streaks of light pass through the wall, stopping near the group. At the top left is a red slash. The artist’s name is inscribed in the lower right. It is in a wooden frame painted dark brown and white.

Sofia (Zosia) Korpoltz was born on January 7, 1933, in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), to Nachum Natan, born in 1905 and Sidonia Sara Stern Korpoltz, born in 1910, also in Trembowla. Natan was a radio technician. The family was not particularly observant of Jewish traditions, though Sara had been raised in a Jewish observant home.

After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Trembowla came under Soviet occupation for a year and a half. Then, in June 1941 Germany launched an attack on the Soviet Union, and the town was occupied by the Germans. In the second half of 1942, Germans forced the Jews into a ghetto. Natan Korpoltz managed to escape to Lvov, Poland (Lviv, Ukraine), while Sofia stayed in her grandfather's house in Trembowla, together with her mother. Natan found a family willing to hide Sofia, since she was blond and people would easily assume that she wasn't Jewish. However, the family soon decided that it was too dangerous and Sofia was sent back to her father to the ghetto. Natan worked as a forced laborer and they moved frequently around the ghetto, sleeping on stairs and in hallways.

The Lvov ghetto was sealed in the fall of 1942. The long days when her father was at work were difficult for Sophia, as it was rarely safe enough for children to go out and play. When they did, as Sophie recalled later, they always played the same game, building bridges. And as she remembers them, the games “lacked the joy of childhood. Already then, the children didn’t know how to laugh.” Food was scarce. In early December, Sofia and her father sold all of their possessions to purchase one bowl of soup and a potato at the restaurant in the ghetto. There were frequent Aktionen, when the Germans would round up Jews for deportation to death camps. During an Aktion on January 5 and 6, 1943, Sophia hid, without her father, in a basement with strangers. They hid behind a dividing wall made of thick green bottles. Sophia could see the flashlights of the German soldiers as they searched for Jews, but they left without noticing the hidden room. The people in a nearby house refused to let the Germans inside, so the soldiers sealed the house and set it on fire. Sophia remembers watching them gather corpses for two days following this Aktion.

At the end of January 1943 Sofia's father died of typhus at the Lvov ghetto hospital. Seeing her waiting there, a friend of her father’s told her to leave and to try to get back to Trembowla. At the end of March Sofia escaped through a hole in the fence of the ghetto. Friends arranged to have a non-Jewish woman help Sofia reach Trembowla.

She was smuggled into the Trembowla ghetto where living conditions worsened substantially. About three months after her return, the Germans began the liquidation of the ghetto. During one of the round-ups Sofia and her mother escaped to nearby wheat field. The mother of one of Sofia’s non-Jewish classmates brought them food and water for several weeks until they were warned that it was too dangerous to stay in that area. They walked through the forest to Umniska village (Humnyska), where Sofie’s maternal grandparents, Meir Stern, b. 1882, and Rena Koppel Stern , b. 1885, had lived before the war. By 1943, they and their daughter, Bronia, had been deported and murdered in the Belzec death camp. The first few former neighbors they contacted were fearful and agreed to help them only for a few days. Anna and Wojtek Gutonski, a Catholic couple with 4 children, agreed to hide them for as long it seemed possible. Sofia and her mother hid on their farm for 8 months, often lying on their backs in a hole dug in the ground beneath the barn. The village was liberated by the Soviet Army in March 1944. Sofia and her mother eventually emigrated to Israel. Sarah died, age 83 years, in 1993. Sofia Kalski painted images depicting her wartime experiences. She died in 2012.

Record last modified: 2018-10-24 14:08:26
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn522804

Also in Sophia Kalski collection

The collection consists of paintings created by Sophia Kerpholz Kalski from 1981-1994 about her experiences in the ghettos in Lwow and Trembowla, Poland (Lviv and Terebovlia, Ukraine), and her life as a child living in hiding during the Holocaust.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kerpholz Kalski in 1987 in memory of her father and the millions of other people who died during the Holocaust. It is a metaphorical work in primary colors depicting a male bust in silhouette floating against an abstract forest with flames and a fence below, suggesting a crematorium and the ghetto. The head is surrounded by bright red streaks; similar slashes of red appear in each painting. In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she escaped and returned to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans destroyed the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1984 about her life as a 9 year girl in the ghetto in Lwow, Poland (L’viv, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - March 1943. It depicts a bright red fire raging across a courtyard with multistory gray buildings as a man and a girl watch from a window across the yard. In Sophia's words: "Lwow aktion in the fall of 1942 that as a result of which, the ghetto was hermetically sealed. I was then nine and a half years old and I hid with my father and the rest of the inhabitants of the building. In hiding, we waited until the end of the aktion, and then the Nazis set the building on fire, but we were able to put it out and the people who were in hiding and in the shelter survived and I was among them. This was at Zamarstynowska Street. The aktion lasted for two days."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1988 about her life as a 9 year girl in the ghetto in Lwow, Poland (L’viv, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - March 1943. It depicts a young blond haired girl with blond looking out a wood framed window at a horsedrawn cart filled with bleeding bodies. There is a long red slash of paint in the upper right. In Sophia’s words: "On Jan. 7, 1943, after the aktion in Lwow, I see through the window people picking up corpses to bring them to a mass grave. The collection of the corpses lasts a day or two approximately."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1987 about her life as a 9 year girl in the ghetto in Lwow, Poland (L’viv, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - March 1943. It depicts a blond haired girl in red dress looking out a large window in a white room at a line of children playing in a courtyard. In Sophia’s words: "Children play in the Lwow ghetto in the fall of 1942. Most of the time the children were inside without an opportunity to go out, and only when there was a moment of peace, the children would play in the courtyard under the supervision of their parents. The game that they were playing was always the same - building bridges. The game itself lacked the joy of childhood. Already then, the children didn't know how to laugh."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1987 about her life as a 9 year girl in the ghetto in Lwow, Poland (L’viv, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - March 1943. It depicts a young blond haired girl standing near a circle of burned bodies in front a brightly lit doorway. In Sophia’s words: "Death of the martyrs. In the beginning of Jan. 1943, there was an aktion in the Lwow ghetto in a house near us. He decided to die and not to be caught by the Germans. All the entrances to the building were sealed and they didn't let the Germans enter. The Germans set the house on fire with all the people inside."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1987 about her life as a 9 year girl in the ghetto in Lwow, Poland (L’viv, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - March 1943. It depicts a young blond haired girl standing in the snow with a line of people in front of a barbed wire topped fence. In Sophia’s words: "Lwow, winter 1943. I walk round and round all alone in the streets and I don't know - should I go left or right..."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1987 about her life as a 9 year girl in the ghetto in Lwow, Poland (L’viv, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - March 1943. It depicts a small blond haired girl curled up on the wood floor in an empty room. In Sophia’s words: "February 1943 - I reached some apartment. I hid my shoes which were too small for me and my coat. I am very hungry and exhausted. There is no one with me. I long to put my head on my father's shoulder, but he isn't anymore. I put my head on a crate that was in the empty room."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1985 about her life as a 9 year girl in the ghetto in Lwow, Poland (L’viv, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - March 1943. Based on a day from December 1942, it depicts the view, from the outside looking in, through the large square window of a dark brown wooden building of a young girl and man seated at a table. The roof is snow covered, and there is a long dripping streak of red paint on the left. In Sophia’s words: "The restaurant. In the beginning Dec. 1942, we had nothing. We sold each one of our possessions, and with the money that we received for these items, we bought food in the restaurant which was in the ghetto. The menu today was: soup and a potato. The money was enough for only one bowl, we received with it two spoons. I requested from my father that he should eat the potato because I ate two days ago, but he pushed me to eat."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski after 1980 about her life as a 9 year girl n the ghetto in Lwow, Poland (L’viv, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - March 1943. It depicts In Sophia’s word: "Slice of bread. Lwow ghetto in the winter of 1943. During one of the visits with a friend of my father in the ghetto, I didn't eat anything on this particular day and probably they saw the hunger in my face because my father's friend asked me if I ate something that day, and I lied and said yes. He had one thin slice of bread that he smuggled from forced labor with the Germans, that he wanted to divide the slice of bread into two. But I did not agree, because there was nothing to divide. And I hoped that the next day that I would get something to eat."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1985 about her life as a 9 year girl n the ghetto in Lwow, Poland (L’viv, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - March 1943. Based on an event from February 1943, it depicts a blond haired girl in a blue dress sitting with a group of people in an underground room as men dressed in green uniforms walk across the floor above. There is a long, suspended, streak of red paint dripping not the bunker. In Sophia’s words: "Feb. 1943. Aktion in the Lwow ghetto. We are in the bunker."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1985 about her life as a 9 year girl n the ghetto in Lwow, Poland (L’viv, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - March 1943. Based on a day in March 1943, it depicts a young blond haired girl, sleeping atop a table, with her head on a red pillow, wearing a red dress, covered with a blue coat; floating above her head is a dream image of a man’s bust in a green uniform. In the upper right is red streak of red paint with a jagged bottom. In Sophia’s words: "I received a bed, March 1943, Lwow ghetto. I am alone, no parents and no home. I lived with three families in one room. In the last few nights, they let me sleep on a small table that stood in the corner next to the oven. The oven was not lit, and my blue coat was the one that kept me warm."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski around 1990 about her life as a 9 year girl n the ghetto in Lwow, Poland (L’viv, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - March 1943. It depicts a blond haired girl in a blue dress hiding behind a white door. She is unseen by the 3 green uniformed soldiers searching the room, though we can see her a keyhole shape opening carved in the door. There is a gash of red paint in the upper right corner. In Sophia’s words: "In the winter of 1943, in the city of Lwow, during the aktion, I didn't have time to hide in the bunker or in the basement and I was forced to hide behind the door of an abandoned house for 24 hours without food, without drink, standing. I was so lucky that according to the best of my knowledge, three Germans entered the room inside the house, and they saw that it was empty. Two Germans left immediately left outside, and the third one wanted to continue the search. He wanted to close the door, but to my great fortune, his superior called him, so he left the door alone and he didn't see me, and that is how I survived."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1985 about her escape from the Lwow ghetto at age 10 through the wooden fence and behind the backs of the German guards in March 1943. In Sophia's words: "Escape from Lwow ghetto, end of Mar. 1943. Zamarstynowska #1. The Germans are in the street and I'm running. I was told that through the fourth post in the fence I will be able to leave. I reached the fence, I counted four posts. In the moment the German turned his back, I discovered the hole in the fence and with the speed of lightening, I passed through this hole to the other side, the Aryan side. One minute of fear, that will bring life or death. Polish children discovered me and started to yell"Jewess!" and throw stones at me. I managed to avoid them, to run away, and to cross the street."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1985 about one day in her life as a 10 year girl n the ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), on April 7, 1943. It depicts a long, narrow, rectangular space, filled with long line of children, men, and women, sandwiched between 2 thick sections of light brown dirt. There is a jagged slash of red paint in the upper right corner. In Sophia’s words: "In this painting, part of a bunker is seen and in it, people hiding. Outside, the aktion was going on full force for a whole day on Apr. 7, 1943. In my hometown of Trembowla in Galicia, among the people that are hiding, I am there as well. I am ten years old, and I am with my mom. In the bunker, we are suffocating because of lack of air. The only air reaching us is through the thin pipes. At a certain moment, when I was in the bunker, I felt that I am suffocating because of lack of air, but with the help of people in the bunker, I survived, and all the people that were in the bunker survived as well."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski about her life as a 9 year girl in the Lvov ghetto during the Holocaust.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1987 about her life as a 10 year girl in the ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), in April 1943. It depicts a young blond haired girl watching 4 men carry the dead body of a woman dripping blood from a blue blanket. There is a slash of red paint in the upper right. In Sophia’s words: "Murder in the street. In Trembowla ghetto, in the spring of 1943. A woman walked in the ghetto and all of a sudden, a German murdered her for no reason. Hearing the screaming, I walked out and I saw four policemen removing her wrapped in a blanket and drops of blood falling on the road."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1982 about her escape as a 10 year old girl with her mother from the ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine) in the summer of 1943. It depicts the grove of trees through which she and her mother fled after their escape. In Sophia’s words: "Picture of eastern European forest, green, dark and moist. I walked from the field near Trembowla together with my mother to the village Umniska - this was at night in the summer 1943."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1985 depicting her 10 year old self with her mother, Sarah Kerpholz, sitting on a blanket with the woman and her children who gave them a place to hide after their escape from the ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), in summer 1943. In Sophia’s words: "After the liquidation of Trembowla, I escaped with my mother to the wheat field and we met there a woman with two children. We lived together with this woman and her children for a few weeks, and then we parted ways, and I and my mother went to a different village. After the war, we met again."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1985 about her life as a 9 year girl n the ghettos in Lwow and Trembowla, Poland (L’viv and Terebovlia, Ukraine), from summer 1942 - summer 1943. It shows a young blond haired girl in a blue dress with a worn and distressed facial expression. In Sophia’s words inscribed in painting: "I always see myself as a small girl. The small girl in me. I feel it cannot change. Even at the beginning of old age, I remember her - the little girl. I identify with her image and everything else I push away. Everything else I push away, there is a great denial in me, the little girl in me refuses to disappear in the shadows of the years and the events chase me throughout my life, and don't let me brush them off. To grow up from the beginning always sweet and I listen to her endless story, she will never die and never disappear from me, this little big girl from the Holocaust."
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Oil painting created by Sophia Kalski in 1987 expressing her sorrow and anger over what was lost by the 9 year Sophia due to her experiences in the Holocaust, imprisonment in the ghettos in Lwow and Trembowla, Poland (Lviv and Terebovlia, Ukraine), from 1942-1943, then in hiding in a village barn.
In early 1942, Sophia and her parents, Natan and Sarah, were imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Trembowla, Poland (Terebovlia, Ukraine), by the occupying Germans. Natan escaped to Lwow, and Sophia was sent to live with him. In January 1943, Natan, died of typhus. Ten year old Sophia was on her own in the ghetto until March when she was able to escape and get back to Trembowla. That summer, the Germans began to destroy the ghetto, killing or deporting its Jewish residents. Sophia and her mother escaped to Humniska, where a Gentile couple, Anna and Voitek Gutonski, hid them in an underground burrow until the Soviet army liberated the area in March 1944.

Learn about over 1,000 camps and ghettos in Volume I and II of this encyclopedia, which are available as a free PDF download. This reference provides text, photographs, charts, maps, and extensive indexes.